USS Stark (FFG-31) on May 18, 1987. US Navy
On May 17, 1987, the Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate USS Stark (FFG-31) was on patrol when it was struck by two Iraqi Exocet missiles in the midst of the Iran-Iraq War. Read More
Riverine Command Boat (RCB) 802’s boat captain, Lt. David Nartker, assigned to Commander, Task Group (CTG) 56.7, checks his boat’s communications system operating in the Persian Gulf in 2015. US Navy Photo
This post has been updated to include a staetment from Navy Expeditionary Combat Command.
The officer in charge of 10 U.S. Navy sailors captured by Iranian forces in the Persian Gulf last year will be allowed to stay in the service, his attorney said. Read More
Marines with Alpha Battery, Battalion Landing Team 1st Bn., 4th Marines, conduct an M777 Howitzer live-fire night fire mission during Exercise Alligator Dagger in Djibouti on Dec. 18, 2016. US Marine Corps Photo
The following post has been updated with a statement from U.S. Central Command.
An undisclosed number of Marines assigned to the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit arrived in Syria recently to join U.S. forces and local forces poised to push Islamic State militants out of the city of Raqqa, according to a report in The Washington Post. Read More
The bomb-laden craft that attacked a Saudi frigate last month was unmanned and likely Iranian, the U.S. Navy has determined. Read More
A new video has emerged revealing additional details of how a Houthi suicide boat attacked a Royal Saudi frigate last week. Read More
USS Cole (DDG-67) on Jan. 16, 2017. US Navy Photo
CORRECTION: A previous version of this post said the U.S. was set to institute new sanctions on Iraq, that is incorrect. In fact, the U.S. is set to institute sanctions against Iran.
The U.S. has sent a guided missile destroyer off the coast of Yemen on a presence operation following a suicide boat attack on a Saudi frigate this week, a defense official confirmed to USNI News. Read More
A U.S. Marine with Company C, Battalion Landing Team 1st Bn., 4th Marines, 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), gives the signal to advance onto the objective area during a helo-borne raid as part of Exercise Alligator Dagger in Djibouti, Dec. 22, 2016. US Marine Corps Photo
The new year began with no U.S. aircraft carrier and carrier strike group on watch in the Middle East. Read More
The following is the Nov. 16, 2016 Congressional Research Service Report, Yemen: Civil War and Regional Intervention. Read More
USS Mason (DDG-87) pulls into the Port of Djibouti escorted by Coastal Riverine Squadron 8 Sea Ark patrol boats on July 23, 2016. US Navy Photo
The Navy should prepare for a future operating environment where anti-ship weapons propagate globally and attacks such as the recent ones against guided-missile destroyer USS Mason (DDG-87) are more commonplace, one the service’s top budget officials said. Read More
HSV Swift following an attack by what is believed to be a C-802 Chinese-built missile.
This is the second of two opinion pieces examining the Iran nuclear deal and the recent attacks in Yemen.
Recent events in the Middle East illustrate the continued expansion of Iranian influence, and the lifting of economic sanctions in January 2016 as part of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA, the “Iran Nuclear deal”) will accelerate this strategic trend by reviving Iran’s economic health. The nuclear provisions of the JCPOA might work to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear weapons state in the next ten years; however, Iran has demonstrated with certainty that it will use the infusion of cash to further support proxy groups to achieve its interests in the region. Read More
